Dear Hermione

Dear Hermione,

I´m so happy for you! I really hope the Vultures vs. Falcons game is short, with, of course, a win for Bulgaria. The birds of prey, huh? Well, I hope you two have fun - Torquay sounds like a great place for hanging around. Maybe if the wardens let me out of the house for a blessed weekend I can visit you. You wouldn't believe it, but the school Dudley went to made him stick to that diet of his. Now he´s only twice my size, and Aunt Petunia is going mad with trying to restore him to his former shape. Somewhat scary. Anyway, write me back after the visit and tell me how everything went.

Yours truly,

Harry Potter

+X+

It was Saturday morning, and unless a chimera ate Sofia, Viktor was coming. Hermione was petting Crookshanks nervously while trying to regain some of her sensibility. Realising she was getting her shirt furry and orange, she gingerly put him down and started to de-fur herself with a piece of tape.

Antigone stuck her head into the room. "How are you doing, `Mione?"

"I honestly don´t know," admitted Hermione, checking herself in the mirror. She had managed to get her hair into a puffy ponytail, and was wearing a blue and white-striped shirt, khaki shorts, and brown sandals. Sensible and calm, just like she felt inside. The doorbell ran and she jumped, making Antigone laugh. "Okay, I´m nervous as when I get finals back. Maybe more."

Antigone stepped into the room, put a hand on her sister´s shoulder, and gently guided her out of the room. "You look fine, you´re going to have a good time. You know each other already, and that´s the hardest part."

They walked down the stairs to the front hall where Mr. and Mrs. Granger were waiting and, judging from the silhouette on the door curtains, Viktor Krum stood outside.

"Wait a minute," said Antigone. "Do you think we could fool him into thinking I´m you?" She had her short hair spiked out all around her head, with heavy green eye shadow and a torn black shirt on, but Hermione and she were still the same height and body type.

Before Hermione had a chance to protest, Antigone opened the door quickly and with a great flourish shouted, "HULLO, VEEKTORR!"

The stupefied, shocked, and slightly fish-eyed expression on the Bulgarian teen´s dark face caused the entire Granger family to break out laughing, even the impostor´s impostee.

Hermione ran in front of Antigone and plucked the yellow flowers from Viktor´s paralysed fingers. "I´m sorry, Viktor," she apologised, still laughing. "Come in."

He blinked and shook his head, following her into the hall. Antigone shut the door behind him.

"What was that for?" Hermione asked Antigone.

"I just got all the awkwardness out of your systems," she replied.

"I think you got something else out of my system," returned Viktor in his accent. "It´s loffly to see you again, Hermy-ne."

Hermione giggled uncharacteristically at the improved pronunciation and averted her eyes to the flowers. "These are really pretty. How did you get here?"

"I Apparated here," he answered simply, "and then I asked a please-man vere I could find your home, and he showed me a book of numbers, and I look you up and then ask directions. I came here, and get qvite a shock."

"Let me take those," said Antigone, indicating the flowers. Hermione handed them over and then noticed that Viktor was wearing cutoff denim shorts, hiking boots, and a bulky grey sweater. "Are you hot?" asked Hermione.

"I´m actually pretty varm, but these are the only Muggle clothes I haff."

"I can lend you a shirt," offered Mr. Granger, sizing him up.

"That vould be loffly," replied Viktor, nodding.

"Here, let´s stop standing around," interjected Mrs. Granger, and she made Hermione and Viktor relocate to the living room couches. "Tea?" she asked, going to the kitchen.

"No, thanks," Viktor and Hermione said in unison, and then they were alone.

Hermione was silent for a while, and then she thought of something to say. "How did the game go?"

"Vell, it vosn´t easy, but ve managed to get a 220-180 vin."

"Oh, that´s great!" said Hermione earnestly.

"Yes, but I´ve got Bludger marks to proff it," he replied, rolling up his left sleeve to reveal a huge, circular, purple bruise on his upper shoulder, causing Hermione to gasp.

"That must have hurt!" she commented admirably.

"The broken bone vos vurse, but the Medivizards fissed that in two seconds. This appeared later."

He was letting down his sleeve when Antigone returned with the flowers in a vase. "Showing Glinda the guns?" she asked, joking, but Viktor only looked at her in puzzlement as she placed the vase on the end table.

She sat down on the loveseat just as Mrs. Granger appeared with three cups of tea and Mr. Granger a large white t-shirt. "The bathroom´s just down the hall and to the right," he instructed, handing Viktor the shirt. The teen stood up and shambled down the hall, out of sight.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Mrs. Granger picked up a tea from the tray and said, "Tall, dark, and handsome, hm, Hermione?"

"Mum." She rolled her eyes and smiled.

"I loff that accent," added Antigone, cutely imitating Viktor´s speech.

"He looks like a respectable young man to have as a boyfriend," finished Mr. Granger, and Hermione attempted to hide her red face in one of the throw pillows.

"Eef nod ay bwuffund," argued Hermione into the cushion.

"What was that?" asked Antigone.

"He´s not my boyf-" She stopped short. Viktor was back, and looking funnily charming in an old Beatles concert T-shirt from Mr. Granger´s younger days. There was a tense silence for a few seconds, and then Hermione said quickly, "We´ll be off, then?"

Her parents and Antigone followed them to the hall, and waved them goodbye. They began walking to the centre of town, and as soon as Hermione´s big white house was out of vision, Viktor breathed an obvious sigh of relief.

"Your parents vere giving me the Inquisition. No offence, off course."

"None taken. Sometimes they get a little jumpy whenever I do something new. Odd, considering Antigone´s done practically everything Muggle I can think of, and Mum doesn´t make a fuss." She thought about it for a moment. "Or else that´s where her patch of grey hair came from."

"You´re sure it vosn´t the fact that I´m an off-age vizard now?"

Hermione stopped. The thought of her being with an of-age wizard suddenly processed, even though she had known he had an Apparation license. She realised that he had his wand with him - and he could actually use it. The thought both excited and confused her.

Suddenly, she realised she was walking on a date, in full sunlight, less than a black away from her home. She regained her senses and picked up the question where it had been left off.

"I´m sure that wasn´t the thing. After all, you´re my first...date."

Viktor nodded, saying nothing. Hermione looked carefully at his broody-looking features, trying to read his thoughts. Finally, she asked him, "What are you thinking about?"

"I´m not sure. I think I´m thinking about Hogvarts, but then I realisse I´m just thinking about you."

Hermione smiled blandly. His words were as sweet as sugar quills, but somehow made Hermione thin they were just as airy. She figured that it must have been the absence of such lines in her life before that made them seem so hollow. She let Viktor tell her all about yesterday´s Quidditch game, and soon the busy centre of town appeared before them.

Viktor was amazed and cutely distracted by the Muggle-ness of Torquay. He was especially impressed by the street signs and the busy beaches on the shore of the Channel. At first, Hermione was wary of his barely concealed wonder at the sight of a parking meter, but she realised that his slightly piecemeal outfit and quite obviously un-British features would mark him as a tourist, which Torquay was quite used to.

They had walked around most of Town Centre and some of Harbourside when they both agreed to get something to eat for lunch.

"Vat are good restaurants?" asked Viktor, pausing with Hermione at a crosswalk.

"No. 7´s pretty good, but I´m not in the mood for fish." They passed The Hole in the Wall at Park Lane, which Hermione briefly considered, but Viktor politely informed her that he didn´t like French much. Hermione then remember the Italian pizzeria, and Viktor either liked Italian, or was too hungry to protest.

"Here it is," said Hermione after a while, and she led Viktor into a dark restaurant named, simply and oddly, Simius.

They sat down at a table, their eyes adjusting to the dim light. The good-looking waiter that came over was about Hermione´s age, and looked at her quickly and surprisingly discerningly as he handed them two menus.

"Um, Hermy-ne," said Viktor nervously before he opened the menu.

"Yes?" replied Hermione, afraid she had done something wrong.

"I, um, don´t haff any Muggle money," he whispered. "I should haff told you before."

"Don´t worry about it!" replied Hermione, relieved. "This is my treat." If there was one thing Antigone had taught her, it was that the cost of a date was either 50/50 or whoever had set it up, not always the man´s responsibility. Hermione had come prepared.

Viktor had decided on ravioli as Hermione ordered two slices of white. The waiter looked at her funnily again, and was looking oddly at their table after giving the orders to the kitchen, before noticing Hermione´s returned looks.

Viktor, however, never noticed the looks, and for a wild split second, Hermione thought that they recognised him from Quidditch. After about five minutes, Viktor shifted uneasily in his seat. "There´s only von good thing about vaiting for Muggle food," he said cryptically.

"What´s that?" asked Hermione, absently watching the candle flame reflected in Viktor´s eyes.

"The vay ve can just enjoy each other´s company before the food arriffs." He smiled a true, toothy grin that turned his scowling, dark features into a full-wattage handsome face. Hermione felt just like one of the ditzy schoolgirls that formed Viktor´s fan club at school and realised that he was practically her own for the day. She returned the smile and nearly stood on her chair and did a somersault when he gently held her hand in his.

"Have you started calling him `Vicky´ yet?" Ron´s annoyed face suddenly swam into Hermione´s mind. Her rapidly melting, love-struck brain suddenly snapped back to attention. Look at her! Fawning over a guy who just threw compliments? What was wrong with her? She took her hand away from Viktor´s, acted as if she had an itch on her nose, and then excused herself to go to the bathroom, her head practically spinning with the rush of emotions going through her mind.

She splashed cold water on her face and looked at herself carefully in the mirror. Ron´s voice acted up in her mind again. "You´re - you´re fraternising with the enemy!"

"Oh, be quiet. You´re just jealous," said Hermione, out loud and confident. She dried her face, collected her thoughts, and made her way back to the table. Fortunately for her sanity, and stomach, the food was ready. She and Viktor ate without a word.

+X+

Dear Ron,

I don´t know if Hermione´s told you or not, but she´s going on a date with Krum on Saturday. It´s so weird to think about, isn´t it? I thought she would never find a guy, but there we are, she´s dating already. She´s supposed to write me back afterwards to tell me how everything went. I´ll tell you the basics if you promise not to tell her I told you, okay?

Well, I have to go. I´ll talk to you later - write me back.

Harry Potter

PS How was the Harpies vs. Cannons game?